I will no longer post a bad review about a guest

[Megan160]

I had an awful guest experience and tried to settle it with the guest personally. She stayed at a reduced rate and then needed to extend her stay. We gave her an even bigger rate discount. When she left, she left the place a mess. Dirty, greasy dishes, pots and pans. All the furniture was in dissaray, both sets of blankets/quilts had spots and stains on them, there were crumbs in all the beds on the mattress pads (which had to be hand picked off), and she ruined a set of sheets.

I took 3 days to cool off before I texted her because we really went out of our way to help this guest and she took advantage of us. I told her I was unhappy about the state of the place and asked her to pay $50 to replace the sheets. Prior to this text, she had nothing but glowing reviews and thanks for me in all her texts. She did not understand why she should have to pay for her sheets because I was a woman and the damaged sheets were a result of a "woman thing" and thus I should understand. I said I shouldn't have to pay for her "woman thing".

After much internal debate, I decided to warn other hosts and gave her an appropriate but still not brutal review, even leaving out the refusal to pay for damages and passing on her lame excuse for the mess. She then gave me a bad review, lying about my place and me. Prior to this review, I had 5 star reviews. Now people think my place is noisy and I am rude. My bookings have almost stoped dead in their tracks after her review. Plus, my 3 month pre-book for Jan-March canceled right after the review. I have contacted Airbnb twice about this to no avail. I had responded to her bad review, but not in much detail because I assumed that if I could prove it was a retaliatory review, it would be removed. THIS IS NOT THE CASE! Not only will they not remove it, they won't even let me expound on my explanation to her bad review.

So frustrated! I am knee deep in the process of spending a lot of money to make my other 2 rentals Airbnb rentals and now I can't even get bookings in prime season. Airbnb penalizes us for trying to warn other hosts about bad guests.

[Norma-Lee0]

Thanks Linda, I will change the description on the couch, as you suggested.

[Gs0]

I have had similar incidents. When these things occur, you must document them. That means pics, video and audio recording, writing down, in detail, each incident (exactly as it occurs--place, date, time, events, etc.). Then, you must contact Airbnb during the booking. They will usually allow you out of the booking and penalize the individual if they are clearly breaking the rules and being disrespectful. I know, I have had it happen. You can also elect not to review this person. If you do not respond to the request for a review within 14 days, it automatically disappears from the Airbnb site. I have had some not review me, even though I reviewed them--too busy and all.

[Rose157]

I even had a same issue as your but not until the guest mess up my place. Making a complain to Airbnb doesnt help us resolve the problem so much end up have to settle ourself. 

[A30]

I hope that you will leave a public reply to her post and remind future guests that your stellar reviews speak for themselves. Sorry to hear this happened to you. 

[Jerry-and-Kerrie0]

My husband was in the Navy for 28 years. One of the things I learned from him is how to write an evaluation and this is easily translated to AIRBNB reviews.

Tale of 2 Guests:

Guest One is AWESOME. You want to adopt them, be their best friends for life and babysit their grandchildren - in other words - you were happy with them.

Guest Two is not-so-good. They left the place a mess, your neighbor called once asking to have them turn the music down at 3 am, and you found a broken lamp behind a dresser.

Your review of Guest One:

Amazing guests. They left the property in perfect condition - so much so I would swear no one had stayed there. The unit was sparkling clean.  They were quiet, respectful, friendly, enjoyed our area and overall proved once again hosting through AIRBNB is an awesome experience. We can not wait to see them again. 

Your review of guest two:

Arrived and checked out on time. Congenial. The four friends enjoyed their stay. 

People will read between your lines.

[Robert523]

I have not had any really bad guests (yet), as a matter of fact I feel spoiled by most of them. They are usually so good that if a guest leaves a single crumb in the toaster oven, for a split second I think to myself how bad they were, then laugh at myself for the thought even crossing my mind, ha ha. I have had a few though that left many days worth of dirty dishes and moved everything around, mud on the floor, coffee spills on the counter and floor, splatter on oven, stuff like that. They are usually first timers. I then send a decent review, give them 5 stars, but in the personal message I thank them for staying here then I tell them that in the future, they should clean up a tad better because that is what is expected from airbnb'ers, and if they want to get good reviews just to be a little more aware of that, it is give and take and personal with airbnb. I have done this maybe 5 times, and each time the guests have thanked me for letting them know and tell me they were not really sure about that and will do better next time. I also now, in my greeting note, say "Just a note for first time airbnb'ers, cleaning up after cooking, taking shoes off if muddy or sandy, and leaving the place as close to how you found it is very appreciated." So far, so good. I also always ask if there was anything they would have liked me to have or improve on, and, especially in the beginning, their suggestions really helped me out, and they could see that I was trying to make the place as nice as possible. Once I was left with a sink full of dirty dishes and a note that said, 'We were in a hurry, sorry for the dishes," and a 20 dollar bill for compensation. I had to laugh....

[Jessica4124]

Megan, I am responding to this because I googled what happens when as a guest if you leave a poor review and your host retaliates. I am so sorry as a host this has happened to you, but I wanted to reach out and let you know that as a guest, this  also happened to me. I was lied to about amenities, and my actions and I even have photographs of the green swimming pool upon my arrival and upon leaving, and photos of the missing amenities where there’s nothing but dead plants in place… I traveled 4000 miles and stayed nine days to relax and swim and soak up sunshine, unfortunately we ended up swimming in a green pool… after leaving an honest review about my families personal experience, they left me a very bad review immediately after as well. None of which was true 😞

i contacted Airbnb and I was told by Airbnb that I could ask the host to mutually agree to remove our reviews together. I felt like would not be helping the other guests out because my review was honest and I had pictures to support it, and it felt like leaving no review was the same as lying to the viewers because it was just that bad for us. Plus why should I be the one fighting for the good review when I was an amazing guest! I left the place cleaner than I arrived other than bedding and towels. I even took pictures after leaving to show the state we left it. We did nothing wrong yo deserve a bad review other than leave an honest one. I decided to take the hit and let the hosts ugly untrue words speak for themselves. Anyone who books with TingTing in Glendale AZ. will know I was right, even if they aren’t willing to risk their reputation or stars by leaving an honest review. I guess I am taking one for the team at this point because I refuse to be silent… I feel like Airbnb has allowed defamation of my name and this is illegal, because they only left me a bad and dishonest review after seeing mine and I did nothing to deserve theirs. I paid them, respected their home and kept the place clean and damage free. 

I think there should be consequences if anything other than an apology is posted in response to a negative review from either party. A better response/review from my host would have been “I am sorry”, and for Airbnb to not even allow me to be able to defend myself at least once after he lied about me is frustrating. 

like you I agree something needs to change here. We should be able to leave an honest review with fear of retaliation. Otherwise what good is a review….

[Lillian204]

Thank you for your honesty, it is helping me decide not to leave a bad review for a recent guest. I'm still new at this, and I have learned not to allow people with no previous stays. I understand now that they can make up new profiles to avoid consequences of bad reviews. I wish AirBnB would have hosts back if we can prove our reviews have merit and the guests bad review is retaliatory, but they are not willing to do that. So I will not be reviewing bad guests, only the good, and fellow hosts I'm sorry to do that but the consequences are too dire. I had to learn the hard way and so will other hosts I suppose, a "new to Airbnb" or a guest with no prior reviews is not a risk to take.

[James3157]

This isn't a reason to not give a guest a bad review - it's a reason to not tell a guest you're giving them a bad review. As sad as it is, it's just a fact that telling people you're not happy with them is risky. Share the information with other hosts, but don't bring it up to the guest until they've submitted their own review.

[Tracy97]

It’s sad, but you really have to wait for them to rate you before expressing any unhappiness. Any expression of disappointment or request for money should be through Airbnb not private text. But I totally inderstand your frustration. 1 bad review could ruin you.

[Jiw0]

Nah, one bad review doesn't ruin you unless maybe it's the first review ever, in which case you can just cancel the listing, fix whatever needed fixing and create a new one.  I know because a friend is an AirBnB host who operates a hostel that's a lot... less upmarket. 😉

It's emotionally strange to watch my friend's listings actually because personally I go out of my way to meet any guest request and generally try anything at all to make the place as good as it can be, and to help guests have a great holiday.  (When people have a fun holiday they will also leave a good review, almost regardless of what your place was like.. and the other way around)  But then seeing some guests at my friend's property struggle, I felt like jumping in the car immediately and sort it out, but then over time I learned to just let it go, and realize that it is what it is, for a very cheap price.. 🙂

And it's been very interesting to see how things develop after bad reviews.   And that AirBnB will actually temporarily disable a listing if the average score goes down to 4 (!) stars or below, with more than one 1-star review in there.  You get a message saying that your listing has been disabled for a week, please improve and then you can re-enable it after your week in the naughty host's corner. 😉

Especially if the bad review is due to a single incident and you answer it professionally I don't think there is too much of an impact, especially if there are many other reviews that are really good.  And if you have additional bookings lined up then those guests will ideally put in good reviews and push the bad one down.

[Paul154]

@Megan160

I do feel you frustration, but am alarmed by one thing you did. You told her how unhappy you were with her stay.

As a guest, I would be very angry and weirded out if you told me that you were unhappy with my stay.

Yes you can charge me for clean up. Yes you can charge me for ruined sheets.

But you have no right to offend me.

Go to yoga , go to poetry reading or coffee to discuss your feelings. The guest is not your therapist.

[Jennifer--And-My-Brother0]

If they paid money, I want them to be happy even if I am cheesed that they showed up with a guest advance notice and i dont put it in the review because ultimately I was happy to have hosted them and to have met them - it was $70 that I could have used but I let it go - if I put it in a review, people may think less of them but will probably still book him but just ask him if he is going to bring a guest  - cuz it's cheating - but I think well it was the once with me but probably not always - I'm not sure he should be permanently marked in reviews.   

I still think they are nice people - maybe I am wrong.  Maybe I book a lot of sociopaths - lol.

I cancelled a bunch of guys for the last room for New Year's and I'm glad I did.   However nice they would have been, when I saw the youngest guest on the chaise spread out like a barefoot baby goddess - cute but not for young male strangers' eyes - I knew I had done the right thing. 

[Gs0]

I disagree that she should not express her disappointment directly to a rude, disrespectful and slovenly guest. Your statement shows that there is no accountability. It is her home. No one has the right to usurp her rights to the quiet enjoyment of the premises. I hope you don't fight for squatters' rights too.

[Jerry-and-Kerrie0]

Airbnb, themselves, has made this an even more sticky situation with their SUPERHOST ranking. Just recently, we had guests who had booked over a year ago for the entire month of January. In late December, they changed their reservations down to two weeks. Due to their late change, we lost out on renting the rest of the month with the exception of a couple of 3-day rentals. (Typically in January, since we are in Florida, we have the entire month booked.) If we lose the SUPERHOST ranking, then if someone uses SUPERHOST as a limiter, we are left out. Because of sour grapes.

When these folks arrived for their two-week visit, they picked on everything. We had spent a lot of money on baseboard heating at the end of 2017. We are so glad we did because we have had one of the coldest Januarys on record. They complained about the noise the heaters made (to us and even in their review.) They didn't like the "clicking." They also said the weather was bad, the bed was uncomfortable, the recliner was hard to close (it is - but smaller recliners are all hard to close) and there was no shampoo. They gave us our first "4" rating - saying our place was not a good value in over 2 1/2 years.

The entire time they were there, whenever we saw them they complained about something or another. (My husband called it their "Morning whine.") Our rental is on the back corner of our property. So we do see guests more often than we would if the location was remote.

All that said, they left the cottage in fine shape. HOWEVER, for us as hosts, the pain and suffering was brutal. 

I think there should be some kind of host code - to warn off other hosts. Something that a guest would not think was bad and yet it would warn us of potential issues. Maybe a separate star rating with notes for HOST-ONLY viewing (both the stars and the notes.) Of course, it would have rules, one of them being, be fair, no ranting. If I were to review these folks, I would probably give them a 4 and note that they were never happy and required a lot of attention. Then if they go anywhere else, hosts can decide if that is an issue for them.

The bottom line is 99.9.5% of the time we have awesome guests who absolutely LOVE our little cottage. Maybe we should focus on that. But when something like this happens, where we continually bent over backward for these folks and their thankyou was to give us a 4, complain about the weather and no shampoo...(and really fussed at us in the non-public note) it really took the wind out of our sails. The only thing that saved us from their attitude, behavior, and review was the next guests absolutely loved the place and couldn't wait to return.

**One side note regarding the shampoo - we have given up trying to provide shampoo to guests. They all seem to have their own preferences and we were spending too much money trying to guess what they might like. We do provide Tom's bar soap, pump hand soap, laundry detergent, dryer sheets, dishwashing detergent, coloring books and markers as well as their red and white bottles of wine, wrapped licorice, coffee pods, tea, and a rubber pelican for a souvenir. (our place is Pelican Cottage.) I'm not trying to boast or anything - it's just when someone complains about something we don't provide - I get defensive.